Results of Swachh Survekshan 2020

 On October 2, 2014, the government converted the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, an existing sanitation programme launched in 2012, into Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). The aim of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was to eradicate open defecation and provide 100% access to toilets by 2019. To achieve this stiff goal in a short span of five years, the SBM was introduced as two sub-missions – Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

 

In an effort to encourage cities to improve the level of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene and at the same time generate large scale citizen participation in Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), the Ministry of Urban Development commissioned an extensive survey called Swachh Survekshan in 2016.

 

Swachh Survekshan is an annual ranking exercise taken up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), to assess urban areas of country on their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachhta Mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.

 

The objective of survey is to encourage large scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in. In addition, survey also seeks to promote a spirit of healthy competition between towns & cities; to improve the quality of their services to people, and create cleaner cities and towns.

 

MoHUA started an annual ranking of cities in the year 2016. First Swachh Survekshan conducted that year covered 73 cities and, in subsequent years, a number of cities were added to expand its coverage. The second survey held in 2017 included 434 ULBs, third survey held in 2018 covered 4203 ULBs and fourth edition of survey held in 2019 covered 4237 ULBs.

 

Swachh Survekshan 2020

Swachh Survekshan 2020 was the world's largest cleanliness survey that covered 4242 cities (including 62 Cantonment Boards). The highlights of the 2020 Survey were:

·      Indore was declared the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive time.

• Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra were ranked second and third respectively among the cities with more than a million population.
• Maharashtra’s Karad, Saswad and Lonavala bagged the first three positions for cities having a population less than one lakh.
• Among the cities with a population between one and 10 lakh, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur was declared the cleanest, followed by Mysore in Karnataka.
• Chhattisgarh was ranked the cleanest state in the category of states having more than 100 Urban Local Bodies (ULB). It was followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh is the first and only state where every city achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF)++ status.

 

Among the 47 cities with a population exceeding 10 lakhs, the top ten were:

1	Indore
2	Surat
3	Navi Mumbai
4	Vijayawada
5	Ahmedabad
6	Rajkot
7	Bhopal
8	Chandigarh
9	GVMC Visakhapatnam
10	Vadodara

 

Among the 47 cities with a population exceeding 10 lakhs, the  bottom seven were:

41	Meerut
42	Madurai
43	North Delhi (N-DMC)
44	Kota
45	Chennai
46	East Delhi (EDMC)
47	Patna

 

 

Climate report predicts hotter, rainier days in India

 In July 2020, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, released India’s first ever national forecast on the impact of global warming on the subcontinent in this century.

Some of the highlights of the report:

·      Summer heat waves over India are projected to be three to four times higher by the end of the 21st century.

·      Annual rainfall is very likely to increase, along with more severe cyclones and, paradoxically, more droughts.

·      Between 1986 and 2015, the hottest day and coldest night have warmed 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively. By the end of the 21st century, these temperatures are projected to rise by approximately 4.7°C and 5.5°C, respectively.

·      The frequencies of warm days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55% and 70%, respectively, relative to the reference period of 1976-2005.

·      The projected rapid changes in India’s climate will place increasing stress on the country’s natural ecosystems, agricultural output, and fresh water resources

 

These projections, based on a climate forecasting model developed at the IITM, Pune, will be part of the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), expected to be ready in 2022.

 

Roxy Mathew Koll, scientist at IITM and associated with IPCC scientific report, said in a statement that an observed change of 0.7°C in average temperatures over India had already registered a spike in extreme weather events over the region.